


Twilight Touches

by puff22_2001



Series: BSSM: University [6]
Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24692188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: Mina is laid low with a migraine and Ami comes to the rescue.
Relationships: Aino Minako/Mizuno Ami
Series: BSSM: University [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1781515
Kudos: 8





	Twilight Touches

Ami didn't often worry about Mina’s physical health. As the most adaptable and agile of the sailor soldiers, Mina wasn’t ever going to fall prey to a mugger or a random fall. Ami felt secure in the knowledge that her girlfriend and roommate would be safe, even in the darkest alleyway.

Until she saw the telltale darkness of their room as she came home from her Organic Chemistry class. Ami hung her backpack on her peg and quietly placed her books on the end table by the door. She’d put everything away later; Mina needed her now.

Mina herself was curled on her (really, their) bed, completely silent and shielding her eyes with an arm pressed tightly against the light. Ami walked over and sat down as gently as she could by Mina’s golden head. Pressing her fingertips to Mina’s temples, Ami began to massage in continuous and patient circles. With both her medical expertise and her innate power as the soldier of ice, Ami knew that she would soon numb and sooth the migraine pounding away in Mina’s skull. But it would take time; as long as an hour could pass before Mina was able to move from her prone position.

“You have a test tomorrow.” Mina said groggily, the pain slurring her words. Ami smiled down at her and kept circling the tight muscles in Mina’s head.

“I'll study in the morning. You remember Orientation? They told us that, if you have to cram before a test, it’s best to do it fresh in the morning.” Ami declined to mention that she herself had been telling Mina that very fact since they were little girls.

“You’ll still freak out if you don’t at least do your vocab now.” Mina knew how important Ami’s education was to her and urged or slowed her as needed. It was a large part of why Ami loved her golden general: Mina always knew when to push and when to back away.

“I can do my words before bed. I always remember better that way.” Ami sighed in affection. “Besides, how can I focus on study if you’re over here in pain?”

“I’ll survive.” Mina sounded drained. It had to be a particularly bad migraine to even bring Mina down. She’d been dealing with them for all the long years that Ami had known her, and Mina could literally fight monsters with much worse.

Like she might have to do again. Ami frowned in sadness. So much for peace.

Mina picked up on the minuscule pause to Ami’s movements. Peeking under arm, Mina smiled weakly up at Ami. “I’ll be fine. I took some aspirin a bit ago.”

“Did you call Usagi?” They had planned to go over to Usagi’s single dorm for Friday movie night, all five girls sprawled out over every inch of pink-decked room. It was just across the hall (literally; Ami had hacked the school room assignments and made sure) but Usagi was so enamored of her new college phone that she insisted that they call for every little thing.

“Not yet. I just laid down as soon as I got back from class.” Ami rubbed Mina’s temples in a steady rhythm, letting the blonde continue at her own pace. “I hate disappointing her.”

“She’ll understand.”

“I think she’ll decree Royal Movie Nights when she’s queen of the world.” There was an edge of bitterness in Mina’s voice, usually so well masked as to be invisible to everyone but her fellow soldiers. Now, the edge was a sharp, unmistakable blade. “It’ll be the only normal thing any of us ever gets then, probably.”

“Is that what brought this on?” They almost never spoke of the things they’d seen in the future, or what ChibiUsa had told them about the thirtieth century. But they’d seen enough, and it terrified Ami. There were things no one was meant to see, even if the future was always shifting.

“No,” Mina said as she fully shifted her arm away from her eyes and into her lap. The late autumn twilight seeped through the cheap paper shade on their window, turning the room a dark honey. “But I’ve been thinking about it since I can’t do much else right now.”

Mina paused and Ami waited, knowing that more was forthcoming. Mina was more open in the evening hours, when the dusk and quiet hid her unwanted vulnerabilities.

“I just wanted one fucking normal thing.” The bitterness was not just present now; it dominated Mina’s ragged voice, tinged with a deeper sadness than any of the others knew. Mina had been leader on the Moon, as well. “Just one normal thing for us all before we’re stuck in fucking mini skirts for the rest of our lives.”

“I thought you liked our uniforms.” Ami’s voice was kind and teasing, the affection clear.

Mina smirked, a little of the pain fading from her eyes. “I like _you_ in the uniform.”

Ami laughed softly, mindful of her current duty. “You’re incorrigible.” Sighing after her healing giggle, Ami let her own voice fall. “We’ve never been normal, Mina.”

“Then peaceful, maybe. If we’re going to spend centuries in constant danger, at least let me go to drawing classes and play volleyball and get smashed on the weekends first.” Mina’s pale face pinched with pain again: the mental anguish just as bad as the physical. “The new enemy has to know who we are.”

“Rei and Michiru don’t think so.” They’d had this conversation several times in the months since they’d entered university and a new round of monster attacks had began. Ami tried very, very hard to believe her psychic friends when they comforted her. Ami tried even harder to quell the tiny voice in her mind that screamed that they were wrong.

“Nephrite figured out Usagi. So did Tin Nyanko. And a bunch of others.” Mina said wearily. “Why else would they be here? Every other enemy stuck to Tokyo, where we were. How did they follow us, if they don’t know who we are?”

“Rei thinks that they may be drawn to us.” Ami widened her circles, and Mina hummed in relief. Ami’s fingers, with their magical cooling touch, pressed just enough to make headway in banishing Mina’s migraine. She’d been calming the other young woman for years. Like most things that Ami chose to devote to study, she was an expert now.

“Yeah, but that’s not much better.”

“If they don’t know who we are, at least they can’t target anyone specific.” Ami’s smile faltered. “And our families should be safe.”

“Your mom could take a monster. She’s a hard bitch, but that means she’s hard.”

“Mina.” Ami scowled, only half of her ire real. Mina didn’t agree with most of Doctor Mizuno’s parenting, but at least she respected Ami’s mother for her dedication and drive. And if Ami was being honest, Mina was right. Her mother could be a hard bitch.

“What? It was a compliment!” The smile on Mina’s face was finally genuine, and Ami’s frown turned upwards.

“The new enemy is dangerous, yes. But we’re going to do what we do best: protect Usagi and the world.”

“Or press continue.” Mina finished their team’s unofficial motto. Because the one perk of being apparently immortal soldier souls bound to protect Earth forever was this: reincarnation was always on the table. It was a fairly bleak solace, to Ami’s estimation, but then what about their situation was ever truly comforting?

Except for each other, Ami concluded as Mina replaced her arm over her eyes, spent with their talk. Usagi alone would be worth the fighting and the pain. Rei and Makoto were Ami’s rocks and steady hands. Artemis, Luna, Mamoru--they were all worth every injury, every nightmare, and every moment when Ami remembered that she would never, ever be truly free of the battle.

And Mina was worth all of that, too, in her own special way. Mina was Ami’s levity and her light. Mina made Ami laugh when she was in tears. The golden head that had shared her pillow for years now was full of dreams and ideas, never bowing to destiny.

Mina was going to be a star and she was going to take them all with her. All of them were going to do amazing things, according to Mina, and they were going to do those things as human women of Earth as well as reincarnated soldiers of the Moon.

Ami loved her so much.

“I’ll always press continue with you, Mina.” Ami rubbed Mina’s temples, trying to push every single moment of love into the gesture.

Mina smiled through her pain and grabbed a fistful of Ami’s baggy sweater with her free hand. “If this migraine ever goes away, I’ll even go find us quarters for the next game.”

“You’re on, Darling.”


End file.
